Losing a parrot is devastating. A common email scam that claims to have found missing birds preys upon the hopes of parrot owners.
A bird can go missing so quickly: an open window or a door that isn’t quite closed properly and your beloved pet is winging its way towards the horizon. Whether you’re dealing with a large macaw or one of the small parrots, losing a pet bird is a heartbreaking experience.
Most people who find a missing parrot try to find the bird’s owners, so it’s well worth posting ads for a lost bird in the Lost and Found classified ads, either in print or online. Unfortunately, some scammers take advantage of a lost parrot owner’s desperate search.
The Found Parrot Email Scam
The conman searches the lost and found sections of online classifieds for lost pet ads, usually targeting ads that offer rewards for finding the missing pet. While this type of pet scam can be run over the phone, most often this type of con is an email scam. Communication through emails is much harder to trace—the con can simply register a new email at one of the free email services and abandon the email once the scam is complete.
Here’s what the scam looks like from the perspective of the missing bird’s owner. He or she gets an email from someone claiming to have found the parrot. However, there’s a problem. As this person lives/works some distance away, he or she had to take the parrot with them. The scammer insists the bird owner send the reward (and shipping fees) before he’ll return the missing bird. And he’d like payment to be made by Western Union money order. Refuse to pay and the scammer may threaten to harm your beloved pet.
Spotting a Bird Scam
This rat doesn’t have your missing bird. As soon as he receives the money order he’ll disappear, leaving you with a lost parrot and a hole in your wallet. An email scam of this nature always wants payment by money order—once cashed a money order is practically untraceable.
The scammer won’t meet face to face: that’s the reason the email claims he lives or works far away. Some bird email scams claim the scammer has left the country with the found parrot. You can’t just export an exotic parrot without filling out complex and time-consuming paper work. A CITES permit can take up to two years to clear, especially with the recent avian flu scares.
Don’t agree to send money. You don’t need to worry that this person might have your parrot. He doesn’t. People who legitimately find lost parrots would be willing to meet in person, and are often more concerned with reuniting bird and owner than they are about a reward. Anyone who has actually found your bird is highly unlikely to demand reward money upfront before you’ve even identified the bird.
Unfortunately owners of missing parrots have to watch for bird scams. Rather like the Cameroon pet scam, emails claiming to have found a lost parrot are usually easy to spot once you know what to look for. Remember to be suspicious of any email sender that:
- Claims to have your parrot but lives far away.
- Demands rewards and shipping fees be sent before you see your parrot.
- Insists that payment be made by money order.
- Threatens to harm your parrot if you don’t pay.
One final warning: never give out sensitive personal information, including banking information to anyone claiming to have found your pet bird.
Resources
911Parrot.com. (n.d.). Scam Alerts.
Forsyth County Government. (n.d.). Lost Pets Warning Message.
